01 · The Library — Systems & Power
What If This World Cup Never Happened?
Seven Eritrean players vanished after a crucial win, and somehow they might be the freest footballers in the world
The plane from Johannesburg lands in Cairo in the first days of April, and somewhere between the jet bridge and the transit lounge, someone in the Eritrean delegation starts counting heads. The team has just produced the country’s biggest football result in nearly two decades, a 4 1 aggregate win over Eswatini that puts Eritrea into the Africa Cup of Nations group qualifiers for the first time since 2006. The count stops at the wrong number.
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